Deadliest Catch Captains Say Crab Fishing Is Like Going to Jail

The cameras document the highs and lows of crab fishing on Deadliest Catch – but there are things even the camera can’t quite capture for viewers.

“A few things that the camera doesn’t see are smells. Smells are the big thing,” says Captain Scott Campbell Jr., one of the Discovery Channel show’s newest and youngest stars, who describes the stench of dead fish and sweaty, un-showered deckhands as the worst offenders.

Oh, and the true sensation of being constantly thrown up and down by the enormous waves on the Bering Sea is also hard to convey on screen. “The waves, when you’re going up and down, 40-feet up and down,” says Captain Johnathan Hillstrand. “[Viewers] don’t know that feeling.”

According to the two captains, the hardest part, though, is being confined to a small space for long periods of time.

“After three months, it’s a little too long to be on a boat,” says Hillstrand, who helms the Time Bandit. “It’s like being in jail, but you’re going to make a lot of money.”

Campbell Jr. agrees: “That’s the difference between actually going to jail and being a crab fisherman – they both are about the most miserable thing in the world, but when you go crab fishing you actually get a paycheck when you get out.”